The herbal stimulant khat is to be banned by the UK government, against the advice of its own Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. In January the ACMD said khat should remain a legal substance, saying there was “insufficient evidence” it caused health problems. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23163017 Campaigners said they were “disappointed and concerned” at the government’s decision to reject the advisory council’s advice. “A more proportionate alternative to banning khat and criminalising its use would have been an import ban or making it a supply offence only as applies, for example, to controlled anabolic steroids,”

Khat is traditionally used by members of the Somali, Yemeni and Ethiopian communities.

But Home Secretary Theresa May has decided to ban it, saying the risks posed could have been underestimated.Khat will be treated as a class C drug – like ketamine and anabolic steroids.It is already banned in most of Europe and in a number of other countries, including the US and Canada. The UK’s decision to follow suit is based on security and international considerations, in particular concerns the UK could be used as a transit route for khat to other European countries.

Chewing khat produced a “mild stimulant effect much less potent than stimulant drugs, such as amphetamine”.

The ACMD found “no evidence” khat, made from leaves and shoots of a shrub cultivated in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and containing the stimulant cathinone, was directly linked with serious or organised crime.